Monogatari Series: Second Season Episode 12: Nadeko Medusa

After yet another recap, we’re back with Otorimonogatari! I guess those recaps are slated to appear after the end of each arc, huh? Ah well, as annoying as they are, it gives me a week’s break every now and then, which isn’t so bad.

Sengoku doesn’t look too impressed. For what my two cents are worth, I’ve always found Sengoku to be the cutest of the five girls (let’s discount Shinobu here). Unfortunately, she also happens to be the most dangerous (now that Hanekawa’s cat is friendly) and it’s here that her yandere qualities truly shine. I’ve heard people call her the last boss, and I never really understood why…until now of course. This show really doesn’t waste any time spoiling the climax of the arc, does it? Looks like she’s pretty bent on killing Araragi, too – aside from the snake’s influence, the only other reason I think of is probably jealousy, or possessiveness over Araragi. You know, the kind of sentiment that goes: “if I can’t have him, no-one can!” Though looking at her, I’m not sure how much is left of the original Sengoku – she’s completely submitted to her kaii at this point. Kinda creepy. Just like the new OP! You can’t really go wrong with Hanazawa Kana, but I think I liked Renai Circulation better. It featured a Sengoku that…wasn’t out to kill Araragi. I’d prefer if he didn’t die, he’s sort of…the show’s protagonist. Also, Shinobu might turn everyone into zombies, and we all know how that turned out.

Here, have another Sengoku.

Unlike the previous arcs, where we usually start off spending some time with idle chatter, we moved on pretty quickly this time. Emphasises the danger being very real perhaps? There was a bit with Oshino Ougi though, whose credentials I’m suspicious of. I…don’t think she’s (fully) human, and is probably capable of some shady things that may or may not include time manipulation. I’m going to ignore what she said about not having supposed to have met Sengoku yet – it makes her sound like some sort of time jumper. But anyway! Sengoku’s seeing scary white snakes everywhere! That…can’t be good. I mean, it’s as Araragi says – kaii don’t usually mess around with you until you give them a reason to, or unless someone else is involved. I’m surprised Sengoku looked like she genuinely couldn’t think of anything she could have done to piss some white snakes off. You know, something like…

…sacrificing a bunch of other white snakes and displaying their dead, mutilated bodies to try and make the bad snake curse go away.

I’d completely forgotten about how she tried that, but it looks like that came back to bite her in the ass after all. How does that make any sense in first place? Is sacrificing a snake supposed to appease another snake? Surely they’d be even more angry with Sengoku killing one of their kind, and it looks like Kuchinawa’s been holding a grudge all this time for his deceased fellow brethren. To be honest, I was actually hoping she’d get to meet Araragi before coming under any external influence, so he can give her some useful advice (and perhaps identify the kaii properly). But maybe I’m just hoping for too much. Poor Sengoku ends up like that, after all.